Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Wreck of Columbus' ship Santa Maria may have been found...
Wreck of Columbus' ship Santa Maria may have been found... Off the coast of what is today Haiti...
Curiosity is drilling holes on Mars again...
Low information citizens...
Low information citizens... The Arab nations in general, and the Palestinians in particular, have spent a lot of money over the past few decades on public relations (PR) efforts. These are primarily in Europe and the U.S. The PR paints a far more moderate picture of their views and intentions than the reality on the ground in the Arab countries, and this is deliberate. It's been well-known in Europe and America for over 30 years, and anyone there can find this out for themselves these days through numerous sources on the web (the lamestream media, with only a few exceptions (notably the Wall Street Journal), just republishes the PR, so they're just about useless for discovering the truth).
However, the vast majority of the population of both Europe and America are what I'm calling “low information citizens”. These citizens know only what they hear from the Arab/Palestinian PR, as trumpeted by the lamestream media, and as a direct consequence public opinion has gradually shifted toward pro-Palestinian views and away from pro-Israeli views. One consequence of this has boomeranged on the Palestinians (as noted by the linked article): more Jews are emigrating from Europe to Israel because of the increase in anti-Semitism there.
There's a larger issue, though, that makes me very sad: public policy in many countries, including the U.S., is drifting toward support for the Palestinians at the expense of the Israelis. In different terms, policy is drifting toward support of the utterly corrupt, totally failed Arab societies and away from the sole example of a moral, free, and successful society in the Middle East. That is what makes me sad, because this drift in policy will only promote the needless suffering and deaths of millions of people suffering under the Arab thugocracies. At the heart of the problem is those low information citizens. Were they informed and engaged, I have no doubt the drift would be entirely different...
However, the vast majority of the population of both Europe and America are what I'm calling “low information citizens”. These citizens know only what they hear from the Arab/Palestinian PR, as trumpeted by the lamestream media, and as a direct consequence public opinion has gradually shifted toward pro-Palestinian views and away from pro-Israeli views. One consequence of this has boomeranged on the Palestinians (as noted by the linked article): more Jews are emigrating from Europe to Israel because of the increase in anti-Semitism there.
There's a larger issue, though, that makes me very sad: public policy in many countries, including the U.S., is drifting toward support for the Palestinians at the expense of the Israelis. In different terms, policy is drifting toward support of the utterly corrupt, totally failed Arab societies and away from the sole example of a moral, free, and successful society in the Middle East. That is what makes me sad, because this drift in policy will only promote the needless suffering and deaths of millions of people suffering under the Arab thugocracies. At the heart of the problem is those low information citizens. Were they informed and engaged, I have no doubt the drift would be entirely different...
Geek: Randall Munroe's TED talk...
Geek: Randall Munroe's TED talk... Munroe is the creator of XKCD...